Building Technology 2 – Lecture 5: Types of Construction

CONCRETE FRAME STRUCTURES

Link to Concrete frame structures

1. Most common type of modern building internationally.

2. This type of building consists of a frame or skeleton of concrete
3. Beams – horizontal members
4. Columns – vertical members
a. It is the most important since it is the primary load-carrying element of the
building.
5. Slabs – flat planes of concrete where humans walk
6. Reinforced cement concrete (RCC)
a. Concrete that contains steel bars, called reinforcement bars, or rebars

b. To make reinforced concrete:

i. A mould, known as formwork, should be made
1. It will contain the liquid concrete and give it the form and
shape needed

ii. One looks at the structural engineer's drawings and places in the
steel reinforcement bars, and ties them in place using wire.
1. Reinforcement cage – the tied steel
 iii. Cement, sand, stone chips, and water will be mixed in a cement
mixer, and the liquid concrete will be poured into the formwork.
iv. The concrete will take a month to reach its full strength, and during
this time, the concrete must be cured, or supplied with water on its
surface
c. Concrete mix design – working out the exact proportions of each
ingredient. This is done by starting with the properties that are desired in
the mix, consider many factors, then work out a detailed mix design.
d. A site engineer will often order for a different type of mix for a different
purpose. But a standard mix is used for most construction applications.
i. Common example of standard mixes (the number refers to the
strength of the concrete in newtons per square millimeter):
1. M20 concrete (has a compressive strength of 20 n/𝑚𝑚2 )
2. M30 concrete
3. M40 concrete
ii. Aggregates – stone chips used in concrete
1. Note: M30 / 20 concrete → M30 concrete with a maximum
aggregate size of 20 mm
7. Moment connections – two members are firmly connected to each other
a. These are used most of the time for concrete frame structures
8. Hinged connections – steel structures
9. The concrete frame must resist loads that act on a building which include:
a. Dead Loads – downwards force coming from the weight of the building itself
b. Live loads (imposed loads) – downwards force coming from the expected
weight of the occupants and their possessions
i. Specified in building codes
ii. Vary with the use of space
1. Residential – minimum of 200 kg/m2
2. Offices – 250 kg/m2
3. Industrial – 1000 kg/m2 or 1 T/m2
c. Dynamic loads – occur on bridges and similar infrastructure and are
created by traffic (braking and accelerating loads).
d. Wind loads – needed for tall buildings or those with large surface area
 i. Buildings are designed not to resist the everyday wind conditions,
but extreme conditions that may occur once every 100 years or so.
These are called design windspeeds.
ii. A building should be able to resist a wind force of 150 kg/m2.
e. Earthquake loads – An earthquake can cause the building to shake
horizontally and vertically.
i. Both wind and earthquake impose horizontal forces
ii. Gravity forces – vertical
10. The concrete frame rests on foundations, which transfer the forces – from the
building and on the building – to the ground.
11. Other important components of concrete frame structures:
a. Shear Walls – important for high-rise buildings
i. They are very large columns which measure 400 mm thick by 3 m
long
ii. They help in taking care of horizontal forces on buildings
iii. They also carry vertical loads
iv. They only work for horizontal loads in one direction – the axis of the
long dimension of the wall
v. Not required in low-rise structures

b. Elevator Shafts – vertical boxes in which the elevators move up and down
i. They help in resisting horizontal loads, and carry vertical loads
12. Walls in concrete frame buildings
a. Almost any walling material can be used with concrete frame structures
b. Heavier options (masonry walls of brick, concrete block, or stone)
i. Used when strong, secure, and sound-proof enclosures are required
ii. When brick and concrete blocks are used, a cement plaster is
commonly used for the entire surface
 c. Lighter options (drywall partitions made of light steel or wood studs covered
with sheeting boards)
i. Used when quick, flexible lightweight partitions are needed
13. Cladding of concrete frame structures
a. They can be clad with any kind of cladding material
b. Glass, aluminum panels, stone sheets, and ceramic facades are commonly
used for cladding, but solid masonry walls of brick or stone can also be
used.

LOAD BEARING MASONRY CONSTRUCTION

Link to Load bearing masonry construction

1. The walls are the main load carrying elements

2. It was the most widely used form of construction for large buildings from the 1700s
to the mid-1900s, but it is rarely used today for large buildings.
3. Consists of thick, heavy masonry walls of brick or stone that support the entire
structure
4. Most construction today is not load-bearing masonry but frame structures of light
but strong materials
5. The immense weight of the walls helps in holding the building together and
stabilizing it against external forces.
6. Traditional European loadbearing masonry structures have floor slabs that are
made of horizontal wooden beams, joists, and planks.
 a. Joist – smaller wooden beam that rests on two larger beams

7. The buildings have sloping wooden roofs that have clay tile, wood or stone
shingles, or metal plating finish. While other buildings had flat terraces.
8. Every wall had a simple continuous strip foundation below it
9. Most classic buildings in Europe are built using this type of construction.

TIMBER AND WOOD FRAME CONSTRUCTION

Link to Timber and Wood Frame Construction

1. One of the most popular types of building methods for homes in the United States
and parts of Europe
2. Characteristics:
 a. It is light and allows quick construction with no heavy tools or equipment.
The main tool is a handheld nail gun.
b. It can adapt itself to any geometric shape and can be clad with a variety of
materials.
c. A huge variety of products and systems are tailored to this type of
construction
3. However, it is not highly fireproof and is not strong enough to resist major wind
events
4. Basic components of a timber frame home structure:
a. Studs – Vertical wooden members within the walls
b. Joists – horizontal wooden beams that support the floors
c. Rafters – sloping wooden beams that support the roof

d. Sheathing – sheets that are nailed over the studs to connect them securely
and form the wall surfaces

e. Siding – exterior cladding

5. Major types of light wood framed structures
a. Balloon frame structures
 i. No longer used today due to some problems
1. In a two-storey house that is 20 feet high, a single 20-foot-long
vertical stud should be used for both storeys, making these
studs heavy and difficult to handle.
2. The gap between the two studs serves as passageways for
the spread of fire from the lower storey to the upper storey
ii. Replaced by platform frame construction

b. Platform frame structures

i. How to Erect a 2-storey platform frame house:
1. Erect the ground floor platform
2. Build all the walls up to a height of one storey
3. Build the next floor platform
4. Erect the next set of vertical walls in the same manner on the
top of the second platform.
5. Build the sloping roof over the walls
ii. This system uses shorter, lighter studs
iii. Each floor is a separate horizontal platform making it convenient for
construction workers to move around.
1. These platforms also break the vertical spread of fire
iv. Disadvantage compared to balloon frame construction: Wood
shrinkage plays a bigger role in platform frames.
6. The history of light wooden framed structures
a. They were first created when carpenters realized that light partition walls
can also form a construction system by themselves.
b. The system was a skin made of timber members covered inside and out by
sheeting.
c. The process was then accelerated by the widespread availability of cheap
machine-made nails and properly cut and planed pieces of wood
d. The tradition of “do-it-yourself" also popularized this style since it can be
done even if someone doesn’t have a special set of skills.
 e. Starting to get replaced by light gauge steel construction.

STEEL FRAME CONSTRUCTION

Link to Steel Frame Construction

1. Mild steel – a type of steel which is used to make most steel constructions
a. Immensely strong
2. Other features/characteristics of steel framing:
a. Flexibility – ability to bend without cracking
b. Plasticity or ductility – When subjected to great force, it will not suddenly
crack, but instead slowly bend out of shape.
i. Because of this, steel buildings deform which serves as a warning to
the inhabitants to escape
c. A steel structure rarely collapses
d. Compared to other materials, steel performs better in an earthquake
e. Disadvantage: It quickly loses its strength in a fire.
i. 500°C / 930°F - mild steel loses almost half of its strength
ii. To protect it from fire or high temperature, it can be wrapped with
boards or spray-on material called fire protection.
PRE-ENGINEERED BUILDINGS
Link to Pre Engineered Buildings

1. Factory-built buildings of steel

2. Shipped to the site and bolted together
3. Design & build - The contractor also designs the building
4. Ideal for industrial buildings and warehouses
5. Cheap, very fast to erect, can be dismantled and moved to another site
6. These are sometimes called metal boxes or tin sheds since they are
rectangular boxes that are covered with corrugated metal sheeting
7. While the foundations and floor slab are being constructed, the beams and
columns are being fabricated in the factory. Then, the columns are shipped to the
site, lifted into place by cranes, and bolted together.
8. Very light (can weight as little as 50 kg per sqm)
9. Structural systems
a. Gives pre-engineered steel buildings speed and flexibility
b. Consists of factory-fabricated and factory-painted steel column and
beam segments bolted together at the site
i. Columns and beams – custom fabricated I-section members that
have an end plate with holes for bolting at both ends
ii. The shape of the beam can be tailored to optimum structural
efficiency (following the forces in them)
1. Deeper where the forces are greater
2. Shallow where they are not
 c. The structures are designed to carry exactly the loads envisioned, and no
more.
10. Erection
a. Each piece is an I section with end plates for bolting.
b. The painted steel sections are lifted into place by crane, and then bolted
together by construction workers
c. Large buildings → Construction can start with two cranes working inwards
from both ends; as they come together, one crane is removed and the
other one finishes the job
d. Each connection calls for six to twenty bolts to be installed
e. Bolts are tightened to exactly the right amount of torque using a torque
wrench.
11. Foundations and floor slab
a. Foundations – made with conventional concrete systems, usually open
foundations
i. Designed to firmly anchor the structures to the ground
b. Uplift – net upwards force on a building caused by wind
c. Floor systems for industrial and storage buildings
i. Usually a thick (about 8” to 12” / 200 to 300 mm) concrete grade
slab
ii. Epoxy floor / Polyurethane floor – thin, abrasion resistant smooth
coating that can be used to top the concrete
12. Cladding and roofing – the building envelope
a. Light corrugated metal sheeting – most economical cladding
i. Steel sheets having a thickness of 0.5 mm, coated with an
aluminum-zinc alloy, and installed over a grid of purlins
ii. Purlins – steel member that rests on the main structural frame and
supports the roofing material
1. Cold formed Z sections – the member of choice for purlins
in pre-engineered buildings

b. Layers of insulation and vapor barriers are installed first before installing
the sheets
i. Rolls of glass wool or mineral wool – most common type of
insulation for these buildings
 1. A layer of galvanized chicken wire mesh is first laid over the
purlins
2. Over this, the insulation and vapor barriers are laid
3. The corrugated sheets are then laid and fixed with self-
tapping screws
ii. Polycarbonate skylights – installed to create natural lighting
c. Industrial buildings commonly have a masonry wall with a height of 10 or
15 feet (3 to 5 m).
i. Allows doors and windows to fit easily
ii. Provides security